


Brittle

by Hermit9



Category: Daredevil (TV)
Genre: Alcohol, Feelings, Gen, Prompt Fill
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2016-04-30
Updated: 2016-04-30
Packaged: 2018-06-05 12:18:36
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 621
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/6704305
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Hermit9/pseuds/Hermit9
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Original Prompt : Promtp : Karen and Foggy discuss Frank.</p>
            </blockquote>





	Brittle

Karen looked at the bottle with a sigh. In the dim, red tinted light of Josie’s the worm floating at the bottom looked like one of those carnival side show exhibit. Or a morgue specimen. She shudders, a long body shiver despite the oppressive summer heat. She has been seeing too many photos of mangled bodies for that image to be comfortable. Foggy reached over and grabbed the tequila, filling his glass and going through the lick/drink/bite motions like a glass eyed robot. His tie was in disarray and his hair stuck in a dozen different directions at once. Josie had taken one look at them as they had walked in and had wordlessly dropped three shot glasses on their table, along with a plate of lime slices and a full bottle. She had closed the TV above the bar on her way back, for good measure.

It was much later now and the extra glass was taunting them by it’s presence, an echo of a much bigger imbalance at their table. Catching the light and screaming in both their heads how Matt wasn’t there, how Matt was keeping secrets ( _again_ ), how Matt had failed them in courts in ways they had never seen him fail. _Matt_. With rough hands and a soft touch and softer lips. Karen felt his absence gnawing at her, which is why she was completely taken aback when Foggy broke the silence that had stretched between them. 

“You know, I don’t get what you see in him.” 

“Who? Matt?”

Foggy snickered and waved it off.  
“No. I have seen him with too many pretty girls around school to ask that. I meant Castle.”

“I.. what? What are you trying to say?”

“Whoa, whoa, I’m not insinuating you’re being disloyal to… to whatever you and Matt are not labeling.”

“Yeah, well that is becoming harder and harder to label,” she mumbled.

“Still, not my point. But Castle. You.. you act different around him. You clearly find him attractive, I’m not the blind one, come on. But there’s something else too.”

Karen sighs again, catching her head in her hands, elbows leaning against the tacky table, blocking out the rest of the world.

“At first.. At first he scared me. He tried to shoot me. He made me think of that time when I was attacked in my apartment and the... The man in black came to save me. Then… Then at the hospital. After he told me I wasn’t in danger...”

“He what?”

“He said that if he had meant to hit me he wouldn’t have missed. He missed on purpose. That’s not the point Foggy. The point is... When I said I had been to his house…”

“ _When did breaking and entering become your thing?_ ” Foggy thought, but he kept it to himself, because Karen’s voice was getting softer, like a confession,

“He started asking questions about his house, about his family, chasing the memories. And... he was so fragile there. He looked like the 6” foot tall, 200 lbs of trained fighting muscles was just a shell, brittle and cracking. And… he reminded of me. Of how scared I had been. How terrified and lost, until you and Matt and... And our friends got me to a place, in my head, where I could start to feel safe again.”

She raised her eyes to meet Foggy’s, looking haunted but there was no tears there.  
“He was so alone Foggy. There was no one there to help him, no one to help put him back together. I saw myself, how lucky I was to have you guys and… and I couldn’t walk away. I... I just couldn’t”.

Foggy poured the next round, in silence.

**Author's Note:**

> Comments? Also, as this was the last prompt on my list, please give me new ones, if you want?


End file.
